


Passing the Torch

by scifisentai



Category: Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger, Engine Sentai Go-Onger
Genre: Gen, Post-Series, tagged it for go-on but honestly it's aba-centric, the go-on kids are present but that's about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-27 15:16:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10811586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scifisentai/pseuds/scifisentai
Summary: Ranru meets the Go-Ongers. It goes about as well as anyone would expect.





	Passing the Torch

**Author's Note:**

> Post season for Aba, pre series for Go-On. And honestly, you can't really have Ranru going into the world of car racing and not toss in Sosuke, after all.

Some days you just shouldn’t get out of bed, Ranru thought, staring at the strange-looking creatures that seemed to have materialised out of thin air and wishing for her Dino Brace. And the day had started out so well.

***

Running a hand over the race-car, Ranru smiled cheerfully, satisfied that it was up to standard and handled like a dream. It was almost a shame that the driver was Esumi Sosuke, especially with the way he threw his cars around as he took on the corners of the track, because she really liked this car, particularly the feel of it when she was test-driving. As she thought that, the object of her idle speculations walked past, bringing a riot of noise with him as he went and she couldn’t help but smile: there was an energy about Esumi Sosuke that was as infectious as it was annoying and it seemed to attract a lot of people. Ranru occasionally entertained herself during slow moments by calculating how many people Sosuke-kun had tried to absorb into his harem.

There wasn’t long to go before the race now, better get over to the pit lanes and make sure everything was working properly over there, they couldn’t afford for anything to go wrong.

***

Of course, it’s always when you can’t afford for anything to go wrong that it does, a fact of life Ranru was more than well aware of, thank you, and it was even more apparent when you were a defender of the planet. Enemies appearing out of thin air weren’t new and neither were the explosions or the foot soldiers running around trying to unleash as much devastation as they could. What was new was that she couldn’t do a damn thing about it. If only she still had her Dino Brace…

Ignoring the screams of the people around her, Ranru pulled her cell phone out of her overalls and quickly dialled the first number that came to mind. It had been a while, but she didn’t _think_ the number had changed. “Ryouga-kun? There’s a problem at the race-track.”

“What kind of problem, Ranru-chan?” Ryouga sounded distracted and she would only forgive that if it was because of Mai-chan; Yukito-kun on the other hand…

“The kind of problem that causes explosions and has minions causing havoc,” she replied tightly.

“We’re on our way,” Ryouga told her, all business in the space of a heartbeat. “Hold on until then, Ranru-chan.”

“I will,” she said, closing her phone with a snap and running out onto the track to hold back the foot soldiers until Ryouga and Yukito could get there. Ptera might be gone, but Ranru was still Abare Yellow and she _wouldn’t_ just sit back and let this happen. Technically, seeing as her Dino Brace was safe in her locker, she wasn’t totally defenceless, but without Ptera the chances of her being able to transform were low: Yukito-kun hadn’t been able to change that time Kera-chan had disappeared, after all.

In the end, though, she didn’t have time to worry; her locker was simply too far away and there were people who needed her _now_. She would just have to do without. Throwing herself into the fight she was rapidly surrounded and she barely had time to study them - noting only that they seemed mechanical in nature and that they were chanting ‘Uguts’ over and over. That had been an irritating habit of Evorian’s Barmia soldiers and it was just as annoying in these guys, whoever the hell they were.

It took a lot longer to make her way through these Uguts - assuming that was their name - and she’d no sooner finished sending them to the floor than she was surrounded again. In the distance she could see some other people fighting and she screamed at them to run - she couldn’t let civilians get hurt in this - but they didn’t seem to hear her. One she belatedly recognised as Sosuke-kun, recognising that shock of hair as he launched himself at the Uguts. She ducked, narrowly avoiding having her head taken off by one of the things and she backed away, the Uguts pacing towards her in a rough semi-circle formation.

She looked around her, rapidly assessing her options and coming to the conclusion that she didn’t have many, just as she was backed into a wall. Shifting her weight, Ranru braced herself then flipped into the air, foot pushing off the wall to give her some momentum. Back in open space and with the Uguts trying to work out what had just happened, Ranru checked back on the civilians. Sosuke had been joined by a guy in a bus driver’s uniform and by a girl who looked remarkably like Saki-chan, one of the vendors, although her uniform hat seemed to have disappeared somewhere.

The Uguts had formed up in a line in front of the three, weapons all aimed at them with no possibility of evading them. Heart sinking Ranru dredged up as much energy as she could and screamed at them to run, but again they didn’t hear her and she was forced to throw an arm in front of her face to shield her eyes from the blast. When her vision cleared, all that was left of where Sosuke-kun and the others had been standing was a scorch mark and Ranru shook her head numbly. This couldn’t be happening: she was supposed to protect them and she’d failed; she hadn’t been good enough and innocent civilians had paid the price for her failure; she…

She was shaken out of her daze by a loud shout of defiance and she looked around to see three figures standing there in achingly familiar colours, weapons not unlike the Abalasers drawn and ready. Maybe, just maybe, Sosuke-kun and the others weren’t dead after all.

The renewed mechanical muttering behind her jerked her out of her distraction, bringing back the reality of her situation. There may be an equivalent to the Abarangers now but they had their own problems to deal with without having to deal with hers. Besides, she could handle these guys now that the monster of the week had its hands full with the mecha. Her confidence lasted for about a minute as more Uguts came out of nowhere and she couldn’t remember ever feeling quite so bruised and battered, although she was pretty sure she had been, back when she’d been fighting Evorian alongside Ryouga and Yukito.

Just as she was beginning to wonder what was taking them so long, Ranru heard the familiar sounds of her teammates launching themselves into a fight and she took advantage of Ryouga and Yukito systematically pulling the Uguts away from her to catch her breath. It was almost like old times, really, except that the Abaranger jackets were absent, replaced by t-shirts and suits. “Took you long enough,” she informed Yukito tartly as he reached her side, standing just in front of her.

“Did you want to do this by yourself?” he replied coolly. “Stop complaining, we’re here now.”

“Hey, Yukito, the enemy’s in front of you, not behind you,” Ryouga grinned, joining them just in time to catch the comment and, despite the seriousness of the situation, Ranru hadn’t been this happy for quite some time. She loved her job, she really did, but she missed this, being around her teammates; she even missed Yukito’s cutting commentary on everything - not that she would ever admit that - and whenever she was away from home and feeling homesick, she’d sometimes turn on the television or pick up a newspaper and listen to her inner Yukito contemptuously ripping the story to shreds. Or, sometimes, instead of the acerbic wit so beloved of Sanjou Yukito, she had her inner Ryouga telling her she was doing just fine and to hang in there because she’d be home soon.

With the typical banter filling her ears, Ranru entered the fight once more, not even minding being thrown around. Not too much, anyway.

***

“Are you sure?” Yukito demanded later, when they were safely settled inside his car, parked just outside the race track. If it had been her, she would have just driven on in, using the weight of the car to plough through the Uguts, but this was Yukito and he wouldn’t subject his precious car to that kind of treatment. Would have been useful though.

“Mostly,” she nodded, leaning forward between the front seats to turn on the radio, but Yukito batted her hand away before she could get more than her fingertips to it. She scowled at him, wondering not for the first time why exactly she missed having him around when they spent too much time apart. “Do you have any other explanations?”

Yukito sniffed derisively, which she took to be a ‘No’. Beside her Ryouga laughed, then reached forward to ruffle Yukito’s hair, earning himself a scowl as Yukito pulled away and tossed his head slightly in irritation.

“I just wish I’d had my Dino Brace,” she finished. “It would have made dealing with those things much easier.”

“You wouldn’t have been able to use it,” Yukito reminded her. “And trying would probably have caused you more problems.”

She shrugged. “Still would have been useful.”

“If you could actually use it.”

“Stop being so negative, Yukito-kun.”

“Stop being so foolishly optimistic.”

“Hey, why don’t we go get lunch somewhere?” Ryouga interjected, heading them off before they could start arguing properly.

“You haven’t eaten yet?” Ranru asked in surprise, glancing at her watch. “Late for you, isn’t it?”

Ryouga blushed. “We were, um, busy.”

“Busy?” she replied, eyebrows rising. “Doing what?”

“None of your business,” Yukito snapped. “Stop being so nosy.”

“I wasn’t being nosy, I was just--”

“There’s this really good soba shop not far from here,” Ryouga said loudly. “We haven’t eaten there for a while, right? We should go there.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

It really _was_ just like old times.


End file.
